Philippine Axie Infinity (AXS) players to pay tax on income from the game

Philippine Axie Infinity (AXS) players to pay tax on income from the game – The Philippines government said that Axie Infinity (AXS) players must pay tax on income from the game.

It seems like things just got real for the players of the popular online game Axie Infinity in The Philippines. According to the Department of Finance (DOF), all these players must pay income taxes due from such transactions.

The DOF has revealed that it wants a cut of Axie Infinity income. In other words, the regulator wants a piece of cake from players earning from the game the play-to-earn game. The news comes amid the huge success of the crypto-powered game Axie Infinity in the Philippines.

According to a report, Philippine Finance Undersecretary Antonette Tionko stated that any profits made through play-to-earn games are subject to income tax. Further, she clarified the news as follows,

Cryptocurrency is an asset, so it’s already taxable in the Philippines […] whoever earns currency from it, it’s income you should report it.

Although she said this, the regulator didn’t decide whether Axie’s in-game NFTs should be like securities or currency. Tionko added,

Is it a security? Is it a currency? So those are the things that will help us define the rules on how it should be taxed. But regardless of how it is characterized, it’s taxable — subject to income tax.

Note that play-to-earn gaming became famous across the Philippines amid the pandemic. Therefore, the surging price of cryptos means that locals could generate a decent income.

Moreover, players earn both SLP and AXS tokens through playing Axie Infinity. But SLP runs as an in-game currency while AXS is the governance token of the Axie community.

Further, Tionko also added that Sky Mavis, the developer of Axie Infinity, didn’t register with the regulator. But it is making money from sources based within the Philippines.